On Nov. 21, 1766, the first permanent theater building in...

On Nov. 21, 1766, the first permanent theater building in the U.S., the Southwark in Philadelphia, opened with a production of ``The Gamester.``

In 1789 North Carolina became the 12th state to ratify the Constitution.

In 1806 Napoleon Bonaparte issued the Berlin Decree, declaring a blockade of Britain.

In 1871 the first patent for a cigar lighter was granted to Moses F. Gale of New York City.

In 1877 Thomas Edison announced his invention of the phonograph in Menlo Park, N. J.

In 1920 baseball great Stan Musial was born.

In 1922 Rebecca L. Felton of Georgia was sworn in as the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate. (Her tenure lasted only one day; she had been appointed to serve the remaining term of the late Sen. Thomas E. Watson before his elected successor took office.)

In 1924 Florence Harding died in Marion, Ohio, at the age 64, one year after her husband, President Warren G. Harding, had died in office.

In 1945 200,000 United Auto Workers struck General Motors plants over wages and vacation allowances.

In 1956 the United Nations General Assembly censured the Soviet Union for its intervention in Hungary.

In 1963 the Second Vatican Council authorized use of the vernacular instead of Latin in the administering of Roman Catholic sacraments.

In 1973 J. Fred Buzhardt, President Richard Nixon`s attorney, revealed the presence of an 18 1/2-minute gap in one of the White House tape recordings related to the Watergate break-in.

In 1979 thousands of enraged Moslems stormed the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, and two U.S. Marine guards were killed.

In 1980 more than 80 people were killed when a fire raced through the MGM Grand Hotel-Casino in Las Vegas.

In 1982 football resumed after a 57-day strike by the National Football League players. (None of the remaining 13 games was a sell-out.)